Play (activity)
[1] Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functioning animals as well, most notably mammals and birds.
[2] Play is not just a pastime activity; it has the potential to serve as an important tool in numerous aspects of daily life for adolescents, adults, and cognitively advanced non-human species (such as primates).
The definition reads as follows: "play is freely chosen, personally directed, intrinsically motivated behaviour that actively engages the child.
[5] Some countries in the twenty-first century have added emphasis of free play into their values for children in early childhood, for example Taiwan and Hungary.
[14][better source needed] Under the American New Deal's Works Progress Administration, thousands of local playgrounds and ball fields opened, promoting softball especially as a sport for all ages and genders.
[21] At an indigenous community of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, children's play is highly valued and encouraged by leaders and parents.
[28] There is a high correlation between the amount of time that youth spend playing sports and physical (e.g., better general health), psychological (e.g., subjective well-being), academic (e.g., school grades), and social benefits (e.g., making friends).
According to research by the Australian Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative, children can be assisted in dealing with and managing stress by developing their sense of optimism when playing sports.
[35] Young athletes have shown lower levels of total cholesterol and other favorable profiles in serum lipid parameters associated with cardiovascular disease.
[30][31][33] Sport provides an arena for young people to be physically active and so reduces the time spent in sedentary pursuits, such as watching TV and playing video games.
[40][full citation needed] The development of a persistent motivational style charged with positive affect may lead to lasting work success.
[42] Play at work may help employees function and cope when under stress, refresh body and mind, encourage teamwork, trigger creativity, and increase energy while preventing burnout.
[43] Contests, team-building exercises, fitness programs, mental health breaks, and other social activities make the work environment fun, interactive, and rewarding.
[incomprehensible] Playfighting is a recurrent pattern in the social life of a youth care institution and sits at the core of what inmates and staff have to deal with[45] Older adults represent one of the fastest growing populations around the world.
[46][33] For this reason, elderly people may partake in physical exercise groups, interactive video games, and social forums specifically geared towards their needs and interests.
[33][50][51] One qualitative research study found older adults often chose to engage in specific games such as dominoes, checkers, and bingo for entertainment.
[52] Another study indicated a common pattern in game preferences among older adults: seniors often favor activities that encourage mental and physical fitness, incorporate past interests, have some level of competition, and foster a sense of belonging.
These outlets can lower the risk of developing particular diseases, reduce feelings of social isolation and stress, and promote creativity and the maintenance of cognitive skills.
[54] The ability to incorporate play into one's routine is important because these activities allow participants to express creativity,[50] improve verbal and non-verbal intelligence,[54] and enhance balance.
[50] In comparison to other age groups, the elderly are more likely to experience a variety of barriers, such as difficulty with environmental hazards and accessibility issues, that may hinder their abilities to play.
[46][55] Investigating these barriers may assist in the creation of useful interventions and/or the development of preventative measures, such as establishing safer recreational areas, that promote play throughout elderly life.
[54][46][55][50] To support and promote play within the older population, institutions should set up more diverse equipment,[47][55] improve conditions within recreational areas,[46] and create more video games or online forums that appeal to the needs of seniors.
[47][50] Evolutionary psychologists believe that there must be an important benefit of play, as there are so many other reasons to avoid it; observations have shown it has arisen independently in such varied groups as mammals,[56] birds,[57] reptiles,[58][59][60][61] amphibians,[62] fish,[63][64][65][66] and invertebrates.
Observing play behavior in various species can tell much about the player's environment (including the welfare of the animal), personal needs, social rank (if any), immediate relationships, and eligibility for mating.
Through mimicry, chasing, biting, and touching, animals act out in ways that send messages to one another; whether it's an alert, initiation of play, or expressing intent.
John Byers, a zoologist at the University of Idaho, discovered that the amount of time spent at play for many mammals (e.g. rats and cats) peaks around puberty, and then drops off.
Play promotes healthy development of parent-child bonds, establishing social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones that help them relate to others, manage stress, and learn resiliency.
[73] Modern research in the field of affective neuroscience (the neural mechanisms of emotion) has uncovered important links between role play and neurogenesis in the brain.
[74][full citation needed] For example,[non sequitur] researcher Roger Caillois used the word ilinx to describe the momentary disruption of perception that comes from forms of physical play that disorient the senses, especially balance.
Such games increase one's heart rate to the level of aerobics exercise and result in significant improvements in mental faculties such as math and recall memory.
